Sick Puppies don't do things halfway, not when they're playing live in front of their rabid fans, nor when they tackled Tri-Polar, their second major label album for RMR/ Virgin/EMI and follow-up to Dressed Up As Life.
When the Australian band decided to break through in the U.S., founding members, vocalist/guitarist/songwriter Shimon Moore and his high school classmate, bassist Emma Anzai, simply picked up and moved lock, stock and guitar amps to L.A., advertised for a drummer on Craig's List, and were soon joined by Orange County native Mark Goodwin.
After getting signed and putting out their debut, the trio made their own video independently to accompanying the first single, "All the Same," shot in a Sydney shopping mall in which fellow Aussie Juan Mann held up a hand-written placard offering passersby "Free Hugs." The clip attracted over 43 million views on YouTube alone, and spawned a world-wide phenomenon.